


Fenrir

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-12-09
Updated: 2004-12-09
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:52:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1634972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Missing scene. Set some time prior to Lunatic Cafe</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fenrir

**Author's Note:**

> Written for zvi

 

 

The smell of blood was thick in the air. So strong it was, Stephen could taste the blood on the back of his tongue. It drew the beast within him and a hungry growl built in his throat. Stephen paused in the doorway, looking around him, but the other wolves were not near. He forced himself to breathe shallowly, holding tightly to his humanity.

He pushed the door open.

Immediately the sweet scent of blood intensified. Stephen's beast rose inside, hunger clawing at his belly. He knew his eyes were no longer human. Fresh blood lay stark red on the pale rug at his feet, on the walls and on the once-white sheets of the bed.

 _Control_ , he repeated firmly to himself. Stephen moved into the room, avoiding the blood on the floor. He fought to see the body on the bed as human. As a person. As a friend. All he saw was prey. Food.

Stephen stopped beside the bed. His fists were clenched so tightly that his fingernails - or perhaps claws - drew blood from his palms. As he stood there, fighting himself and his hunger, he saw the eyes of the wounded man open. Blue eyes widened in sudden terror and pain as they focussed on Stephen's wolf eyes. It was enough. Pain and terror were things Stephen knew. They touched his humanity and he recognised his friend at last.

"Jason," he said, and his voice sounded human. That was good.

He saw Jason's lips part, his mouth trying to form words. Jason wanted this. He wanted to be a werewolf. Raina agreed to make him pack, but this...this price was too high. Stephen, his senses sharpened by his beast, smelled death. Jason would not survive to become lukoi.

 _This is my fault_.

Stephen lifted his friend in his arms, bloody sheets and all, and carried him from the room.

******

"It's not that he even did anything wrong..."

Richard clapped Irving on his shoulder, silencing him. "Hold that thought." He looked through narrowed eyes at the scene developing on the other side of the caf.

Stephen appeared in the doorway. He carried someone in his arms, bundled in bloody sheets. Raina, predictably, smelled or heard him coming. Even from a distance, Richard could feel the fury coming off her in waves as she stalked toward Stephen. Richard remembered there was someone Raina was going to bring over tonight; it didn't take long to figure out that that was who Stephen was carrying. But they shouldn't be _here_. The Lunatic Caf was a public place.

Richard's eyes searched the room, but saw no strangers. Everyone here was lukoi or some other flavour of shape shifter. But that wasn't always the case, and he understood Raina's anger. Stephen could be putting them all in danger.

The thought made him look for Marcus. The Ulfric's black look confirmed Richard's worst fears. Stephen was going to suffer for this one. Stephen was under Richard's protection. He wouldn't be able to save Stephen, but he had to try.

Richard began to push his way through the crowd. Marcus was closer.

Stephen was looking up at Raina, his eyes pleading. "He's dying, Raina."

"It's not your place to interfere," she returned.

"He's my friend," Stephen protested.

By then Marcus had reached Raina's side. Richard moved faster through the gathering lycanthropes, wolves beginning to crowd around their Ulfric and Lupa. Marcus barely glanced at the man Stephen held in his arms. The look in Marcus' eyes made Richard feel sick. Even from a distance, he could see the young man was hurt. He was barely more than a kid. His head lolled back over Stephen's arm, his skin pale with blood loss. The smell of fresh blood called to Richard's beast but he shoved it ruthlessly back within him.

He looked at Marcus again; he didn't seem to care that a young man was dying. Marcus was a doctor. He _had_ to know!

Raina reached out, stroking the dying kid's hair with mock-gentleness. Stephen's eyes followed the movement of her hand, panic showing in his expression. As Richard finally made it to Stephen's side, the young werewolf moved into his shadow, begging protection for himself and his burden.

Richard hesitated. Stephen was already under his protection. But if he acknowledged Stephen now, he would be bound to protect this unknown stranger, too. That would put him in opposition to Raina. Again. His hesitation lasted only an instant. Careful to make sure his reluctance didn't show, he laid his arm across Stephen's shoulders. He could feel Stephen's tension through the touch, in every muscle and sinew. He looked past Stephen, meeting Raina's angry gaze, and called to his beast. Concentration focussed the rising power into the hand that rested on his friend's shoulder. Richard ignored the pain, letting his fingers stretch into claws, his flesh turn to fur, and his eyes to lambent gold.

Raina held his gaze, outwardly unimpressed. She raised her chin, arrogant and secure in her power. "Jason wants to be pack. He bought my sponsorship. He agreed to this."

Richard shook his head. "This is more than he agreed to, Raina."

"If he lives, he'll have everything that was promised."

"He didn't want to die!" Stephen protested.

He was ignored.

Raina leaned forward, bending over Jason's body to stare into Richard's eyes. "Will you challenge me for a _human_ you don't even know?" she asked, her voice low but pitched to carry.

"He needs a hospital," Stephen cried. "Please!"

Richard pulled the bloodied sheet away from Jason's body. Jason moaned softly. Richard felt the lukoi gathering around them, hungry, drawn to the promise of food. Richard shuddered at the shared impulse. Raina had sliced through Jason's chest and belly. He could see exposed intestine, and more, among the blood. A lycanthrope could heal this much damage but Jason wouldn't be truly lukoi until the full moon. Until then he couldn't shift to heal himself; he would die before his body could mend. Damn. _Damn Raina!_

Richard met Stephen's pleading eyes, hating what he had to say. "She's right, Stephen. He agreed to this."

Raina smiled in triumph. Stephen was crushed, the hopeful light fading from his eyes.

Richard added, "You can't take him to a hospital. These wounds are too obviously from a werewolf attack. They might save Jason's life but he'd wind up in a state lockup." Richard looked at Marcus, putting all the power he had into his eyes. "We are pack. We take care of our own." It was a plea.

Richard waited tensely. If Marcus refused, there would be nothing more he could do.

Eventually, Marcus nodded. "Lay him down, Stephen."

*****

"Hey," Jason smiled weakly.

"How are you feeling?" Stephen asked him. Twenty four hours after his injury, Jason was still confined to bed. At Raina's insistence they were keeping him here, in a room above the Lunatic Caf. Ostensibly it was to keep him under Marcus' care. In reality, Stephen suspected she didn't want to risk losing a new pet. Jason _did_ look better. There was colour in his cheeks now.

"I'm healing," Jason said.

Stephen nodded. Jason's wounds were healing quickly. Much more quickly than was normal for a human. "I guess that means you've got what you wanted."

Stephen saw the look of horror pass through Jason's eyes. He empathised; Stephen had enough horror in his own past to recognise that fear. He moved closer to the bed. "You haven't...changed your mind?" he asked worriedly. It was far too late for Jason to have second thoughts...

Jason sat up in the bed. The sheet fell away from his body, revealing the healing wounds across the front of his body. The skin was pink and bruised, but it was definitely an improvement.

"You scared the crap out of me last night," Jason said bluntly.

" _I_ did?" Stephen said in amazement. A moment later he realised what Jason meant. He tried to explain. "The beast rises to the smell of blood. But I'm not the one who bled you."

Jason shuddered. "Don't remind me." He gathered the sheets, hugging them close to him. Stephen didn't think it was for warmth. "I _never_ want her near me again," Jason said.

Stephen didn't know what to say to that. The full horror of Jason's situation was dawning on him. "Jason..." he began, as gently as he could, "Raina is your sponsor, and she's our Lupa. You might not have a choice."

******

Richard rose from the couch and went over to the window, gazing out over the forest behind his home. "Stephen, you have my protection. You know that. Jason has what he wanted and Raina has the right."

"She nearly killed him," Stephen repeated. "It barely takes a scratch to infect someone with lycanthropy. She didn't need to go that far."

"I'm not saying I approve," Richard insisted. The wind in the trees was a constant whisper. "I don't like a lot of things Raina does," Richard said darkly. "Jason put _himself_ in her hands. If he's your friend why did you let him do it?"

"I tried to talk him out of it, believe me. Jason was desperate to join the pack."

" _Why?_ " Richard demanded. _Is he crazy?_

Stephen came up to his side. "Jason wanted this when we were kids. When he started college I got him a job at Guilty Pleasures, waiting on tables. But Jason wants to dance. Jean Claude told him he won't employ humans on stage."

Richard stared at Stephen incredulously. "You're joking! He wants to be a werewolf so he can _strip_?"

Stephen shook his head. "No, Jason always wanted it. The job thing is why it had to be now, that's all." Stephen's voice became distant. "Most of the dancers are shape shifters or vampires. It's the reason the club is so popular. The gimmick. There used to be some human dancers, too, but since Philip was killed Jean Claude won't take on anyone new. I think he's being careful." He shrugged. "And all Jason saw was this gorgeous woman who wanted to fuck him. I tried to tell him what she is, but..."

Richard shook his head. He didn't understand anyone who wanted this disease, but Jason's reasons sounded crazier than the usual. It didn't inspire him to want to help the kid. Perhaps if Jason asked him himself...

"I'm sorry, Stephen. Jason is pack now. He has to live by pack rules." Richard looked down as Stephen knelt at his feet, submissive. He stroked Stephen's curly hair - an apology. He was Freki for the pack. It was his job to enforce the rules, not help wolves avoid them. "He needs a female sponsor. Who am I going to ask - Sylvie?" Sylvie was the only female wolf openly supporting Richard; and she was gay. Truthfully, Richard wasn't entirely comfortable with her support. She had encouraged him when he began to rise through the ranks in the pack, but it took him too long to realise she saw him as a challenger to Marcus. Richard wasn't happy with Raina's control of the lukoi, but he wasn't ready to go there...not yet.

******

Jason had not seen the farmhouse before. Some distance outside St Louis, the farmhouse was owned, they told him, by Marcus. It was near the lupnar, and it was a safe place for the pack to gather.

He walked into the barn, looking around for Raina. There was no sign of her. He was glad. The wounds she gave him were long-healed. Only the faintest scars remained and even those, he had been told, would disappear when he shifted at the full moon. Which was in two nights.

There was an energy in the room; many wolves gathered there. It was still a novelty to Jason and he breathed deep of it. He waited a long time to be one of them. The changes he felt already scared him a little, but it was an exciting fear. This was where he belonged.

Except for Raina. She scared the shit out of him. The memory overwhelmed him for a moment: Raina above him, fucking him senseless. She was dominant and uninhibited and Jason, for those moments before it turned to pain and terror, thrilled to the thought that someone like her wanted him. Her hands stroked his chest, fingernails scratching him lightly. He heard himself moan, arching his back, exposing his throat to her. She laughed, drawing his eyes back to her face. And he saw her change, the lust in her eyes turning feral. Bloodlust. Claws sliced into his chest and he screamed in pain. Saw blood spatter her nude body. His blood. Saw his death in her eyes. And she laughed.

Jason shuddered. It was the price he agreed to pay, but he _never_ wanted her touching him again. He looked again for Raina. She wasn't going to give him a choice. She was his sponsor, supposedly his teacher in the pack. Raina had explained things like the danger of changing form during sex. Jason understood the logic. He wanted to be a werewolf but that didn't mean he wanted to hurt people. But the thought of Raina teaching him that sort of control was terrifying. Because she would love it when he failed.

Ever since that night she watched him with a predator's eyes.

******

In another part of the barn, Raina stood against a carefully arranged set. She struck an aggressive pose, staring into the camera. A leather mask framed her eyes. Leather straps encircled her arms, neck, waist and legs. Her chest was bare, except for make-up: rouge on her nipples and a dusting of glitter between her breasts. The harsh lighting accentuated every detail.

"You look perfect, Raina," the camera operator told her. "I think we're ready."

She smiled slowly, beckoning to Gabriel. "Let's go and choose our star."

******

Jason saw her appear in the doorway, with Gabriel a few paces behind her. Almost every wolf in the room turned toward them and Jason looked, too. He didn't want to be noticed.

Raina approached one of the female wolves. She spoke to her quietly, then gathered the woman's long hair into her hand, jerking her head back. She twisted the woman's face toward Gabriel, who leaned in, smelling her skin. And her fear, Jason guessed. He saw Gabriel's lips move but the words were too quiet to make out. The woman screamed. Raina laughed and let her go.

They moved on, stalking through the crowd. Raina chose a man next. He struck Raina's hand away when she reached for him and she laughed. The same cruel laugh Jason remembered so vividly. As far as Jason could see, Raina did nothing but stare at her victim, but suddenly he cried out. He fell to his knees, beginning to transform.

Her power filled the barn, calling to Jason, too. He moved forward, aware of the other wolves around him doing the same. Moving as one, they gathered, forming a circle that enclosed Raina, Gabriel and her wolf. Only Marcus and Richard remained aloof, seated on a raised platform above the rest of them.

Raina's eyes moved over the gathered lukoi, hunting. Her predator's gaze rested on Jason. She smiled, gliding toward him as the others melted out of her path. There was no escape.

Jason cringed away from her hand. She ran a finger down his cheek and he felt her power ripple along his skin. Fear was a drug to her. Jason straightened with an effort and faced her, trying to hide his fear.

Raina's voice was almost a growl. "What do you think of our newest wolf, Gabriel?"

Gabriel moved in, slinking around to Jason's back. He pressed up against him, running his hands down Jason's sides. Jason fought not to react. He was trapped between them, and part of him thought Gabriel would be the lesser evil. He felt Gabriel's breath hot against his cheek and heard him whisper, "I'm going to bleed you, boy." Gabriel's hand slid across the front of Jason's jeans, touching something no man had touched for him before.

"No!"

Jason lurched away from them. Raina's laughter followed him. He looked for an escape, but the pack surrounded them.

"Come with us, Jason," Raina smiled.

No one would help him. Trapped, Jason followed.

******

There were bright lights focussed on a collection of metal, wood and cloth. At first, Jason saw only a mess of scaffolding and rubble. Gradually, his eyes made sense of what he was seeing. He turned to run. Gabriel blocked his way, grinning.

Raina grasped the back of his shirt. "No, no, Jason. It's too late to change your mind now." She gestured, and someone else approached them.

Jason recognised Nathaniel from Guilty Pleasures. His thick, waist-length hair was loose, covering most of his body. Through his hair, Jason could see Nathaniel wasn't wearing much of anything. There was a studded collar around his neck and a black posing pouch covering as little as possible. Thin silver chains connected the two garments. Beside that, iron manacles encircled his wrists and ankles, and that was all. His face was heavily made up; the kohl around his eyes almost feminine. He walked toward Jason like he was on stage, gliding across the stone floor like the cat he was.

"Hi," Nathaniel smiled. "Come on, I'll help you get changed."

"Into what?"

Raina pushed him toward Nathaniel. "You'll see."

Nathaniel helped Jason to strip quickly. He was given no privacy. The costume was a male version of Raina's: a collection of leather straps. He had seen things like it on stage, and in front of an audience he would have loved wearing something like this. It was the thought of wearing it at Raina's mercy that he hated. He kept glancing over to where she stood.

Nathaniel saw him looking. "It won't be too bad. Turn around so I can fasten this." As Jason complied, Nathaniel talked about the plot of the film they were making. Jason was supposed to play the part of a human prisoner who would be "killed" onscreen. Nathaniel assured him there was nothing to worry about. "It will look bad on film, but they won't do anything to you that won't heal. We can take a lot of damage."

That wasn't reassuring.

******

Marcus' seat on the platform was very nearly a throne: heavy carved wood draped with velvet. It was pretentious as hell, in Richard's opinion: something that belonged in a theatre not in a barn.

Richard watched Raina hunt her way through the pack and choose Jason. He felt the pack's excitement, and Jason's fear. He watched her and Gabriel disappear with Jason and hated himself for letting it happen.

"Is this really the reputation you want for the Thronos Rokke Clan, Marcus?" Richard hoped the question seemed casual.

"Reputation?" Marcus questioned.

"Pornography."

The Ulfric smiled. "You find it...dclass."

Richard looked back at him coolly. "That's a good word for it, yes. But it's not just that..."

"Richard, you are Freki. You earned your place at my side. You need not approve or take part in the films."

"And yet...?"

"I _am_ thinking of our pack. This is a lucrative business and will benefit us all. Including you. The investment is small, Raina already has a distributor and at the present our product is unique. It's a seller's market, my friend."

"Commerce before conscience?" Richard asked, disgusted.

Marcus' look was sharp, suspicious. "Not everyone shares your human morals, Richard. When _you_ run this pack, you can stop it."

It was a threat, and Richard recognised it. He bowed his head, acknowledging Marcus' dominance. He had tried, but it wasn't important enough to kill for. He remembered Stephen telling him about Jason's ambition to strip at Guilty Pleasures. Was this really so different? For all he knew, Jason might enjoy it.

Then he heard Jason screaming.

Richard ran.

The lukoi moved aside for him. Marcus was at his heels, but Richard didn't care. He burst into Raina's studio, Jason's screams still echoing in his ears.

Richard had imagined a lot of things about these movies. What he saw was both better and worse than his imaginings. Jason was chained to a framework of wood and metal, in a cruciform position. Barbed wire wound around his legs, small trickles of blood flowing from pinprick-wounds. A leather bondage hood covered most of his head: ears, eyes and nose, leaving only his mouth visible. A ragged remnant of black silk hung at his waist; it might have been underwear once but it had been torn to shreds.

None of that was what stopped Richard in his tracks.

What stopped him was the bloody wound near Jason's neck. A stream of blood covered his chest. It looked like a vampire's work, but there could be no vampire here.

Jason hung weakly in his chains. Nathaniel knelt at his feet and Gabriel was at his side, in leopard-man form, his claws re-opening Jason's healing wound. Richard heard Jason begging Gabriel to stop, the words quiet, as if he knew it was useless.

He was right.

And it was time this stopped.

The camera went flying and smashed against the wall before anyone saw Richard move. He shoved the camera operator away. He leapt across the room to Jason's side and was beginning to remove the bondage hood from Jason's head when Raina's claws tore into his back. Richard turned on her, feeling the beast rise through him, too angry to stop it. His hands morphed painfully into claws, his jaw stretched to a muzzle. He went for her throat. Blood filled his mouth in a hot, sweet rush.

" _Richard!_ " Marcus' roar filled the room, backed by his power.

It stopped everyone.

Raina was on her back beneath Richard. Richard rose slowly, making sure she stayed down. He forced his beast down, but with her blood in his mouth it was hard. He looked at Jason, still hanging in chains. Then at Raina as she scrambled inelegantly to her feet. She glared at him with hatred in her eyes and Richard knew she would see him dead if she could.

Richard turned away from her, deliberately giving her his back to show he wasn't afraid. He walked to where Jason hung and finished removing the hood. Jason's eyes met his, filled with terror. Richard glanced at Jason's wrists but the bonds were metal. Iron, at least, not silver. But freeing Jason would have to wait a little longer. "Soon," he said, quietly. A promise.

"You have no right!" Raina screamed at him.

And finally, Marcus stepped up. "She is right, Richard. Jason is hers, and she is Lupa."

Meaning Raina outranked him in the pack. Richard, in control now, turned to face them both. He met Raina's angry eyes with calm. "Take the willing for your movies and I'll stay out of it. Jason wasn't willing."

"That's what makes it fun," Gabriel put in.

"Enough!" Marcus snapped. "You overstep your authority, Richard."

But Richard faced Marcus determinedly. "If you won't stop her torturing the pack, _I_ will." Without turning around, he said to Jason, "Do you want my protection?" Asking directly wasn't the way to do this, but Richard wanted it as clear as possible.

"Yes," Jason gasped. "Please, yes!"

"Stop this, Marcus. Please." _Don't make me do this,_ Richard added silently.

Others were gathering at the studio door.

" _I_ rule this pack, Richard. Not you." Marcus' response was inevitable.

And Richard looked into Marcus' eyes. He had no choice now. He had never wanted to go so far. "This has to change," he announced firmly, feeling the anticipation of the listening wolves.

It was the right decision. Richard had passed the point of no return when he attacked Raina.

He took a step forward, toward Marcus. "I declare myself Fenrir."

It was a challenge. To the death.

"If you die," Marcus said, "he dies."

Richard let his beast bleed back into his eyes. "It's too late for threats, Marcus. Shut up and fight."

 

 

 


End file.
